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THE FIRST PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON 
J'^!ttn/e(/Ant ^'Aa.fCeJ akMJ-o^i \yyec(l^ 

Feinut^y 22 ^1892. 






Cljf dFirat portrait 

of IKaoIjington. 



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PRESENTATION 



MR. CHARLES S. OGDEN 



TO THE 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



OF 



CHAKI.ES WILLSON PEALE'S ORIGINAL STUDY 



FIRST PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON 



WITH REMARKS 



BY WILLIAM S. BAKER. 

1 1 



reprinted from 
'The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.' 



THE FIRST PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON, 



PAINTED AT 



MOUNT VERNON, MAY, 1772. 



At a special meeting of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania, held on Monday evening, 29th February, 1892, the 
original study for the first authentic portrait of Washing- 
ton, a reproduction of which appears as a frontispiece, was 
presented to the Society by Mr. Charles S. Ogden, of Phila- 
delphia. Mr. William S. Baker, on offering the resolution 
of thanks, said, — 

"On the 2l8t day of May, 1772, nearly one hundred and 
twenty years ago, George Washington, of Mount Vernon, in 
the colony of Virginia, wrote as follows to Jonathan Boucher, 
an Episcopal clergyman at Hanover and St. Mary's parish : 
' Inclination having yielded to importunity I am now con- 
trary to all expectation under tlie hands of Mr. Peale ; but 
in so grave so sullen a mood and now and then under the 
influence of Morpheus when some critical strokes are making 
that I fancy the skill of this gentleman's pencil will be put 
to it, in describing to the world what manner of man I am.' 

" The Mr. Peale referred to was Charles Willson Peale, 
an honored name in the annals of American art, and the 
portrait of Washington which came from these sittings is 
the familiar three-quarter length, representing him at the 
age of forty in the costume of a colonel of the Virginia 
militia, a blue coat faced with red, bright metal buttons, 
and a dark-red waistcoat. On his head is the hat usually 
called the Wolfe hat. It is always alluded to as the first 



The First Portrait of Washington. 5 

authentic portrait of Washington, and is known to us by a 
number of engravings and reproductions. After the death 
of Washington the picture came into the possession of his 
adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, of Arling- 
ton House, Virginia, and from him descended to his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee. It is nowTiT the possession of a 
member of that family. 

" The sittings for this portrait were recorded by Wash- 
ington on the blank pages of an interleaved almanac for 
the year 1772 : 

" ' 3Iay 20. — I sat to have my picture drawn. 

" ' May 21. — I sat again to take the drapery. 

" ' May 22.— Set for Mr. Peale to finish my face.' 

" An entry in his account-book is still more pertinent to 
the subject : 

" ' May 30. — By Mr. Peale drawing my picture, £18.4.' 

" The original study for this portrait (the head and shoul- 
ders only), and from which the three-quarter length just 
described was painted, was retained by Mr. Peale, and 
formed one of the interesting features of his gallery of 
Eevolutionary heroes included in what was known as Peale's 
Museum, at Philadelphia. 

" At the time of the sale and dispersion of the Peale 
Gallery, October, 1854, twenty-seven years after the death 
of the artist, the original study, the uniform having been 
changed to the Continental colors, was purchased by Mr. 
Charles S. Ogden, of this city, and has been in his posses- 
sion from that time. 

" The following letter from Rembrandt Peale, son of 
Charles Willson Peale, to Mr. Ogden, dated Philadelphia, 
September 18, 1858, forms part of the history of the picture, 
which is really the first authentic picture of Washington, 
antedating for a short time the production of the three- 
quarter length : 

" ' Dear Sie, — The portrait which you purchased from 
the Peale Gallery I distinctly remember from my youth 
and during all the changes in my father's gallery to be the 
portrait of Washington, painted by my father at Mount 



The First Portrait of Washington. 7 

Vernon in the year 1772. Washington was then a colonel 
in the Alexandria militia, and the picture in the Mount 
Vernon collection represents him in the English uniform, 
Blue and Red. I am under the impression that your picture 
was the tirst study for the large picture now at Arlington, 
which was finished at Mount Vernon, and that my father 
subsequently (during the war for Independence) changed 
the dress to the Continental costume, notwithstanding that 
in our catalogues of the Museum Gallery this portrait has 
always been called " Col. G. Washington." ' 

" This is the picture before us, and I now have the pleas- 
ure of reading a letter from Mr. Ogden in reference to it, 
which will not only explain itself, but furnish a source of 
much gratification to the members of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania: 

" ' Colonnade Hotel, February 22, 1892. 

" ' Mr. Frederick D. Stone, 

" ' Librarian Historical Society of Penna. : 

" ' Dear Sir, — I send for presentation to the Historical 
Society my portrait in oil of Washington, painted by 
Charles Willson Peale at Mount Vernon in the year 1772, 
the first portrait that was made of Washington, it being 
the original study for which the three-quarter length was 
made, known as the " Arlington picture." 

" ' Also a letter from Rembrandt Peale, a son of the artist, 
relative to the authenticity of the portrait. 

" ' Also a portrait in oil, by the same artist, of Bill Lee, 
familiarly known as " Billy," Washington's favorite military 
servant during the war for Independence. 

" ' These portraits were purchased by me at the public sale 
of the Peale Gallery in Philadelphia. The frames are the 
originals that surrounded them when upon exhibition in 
the Peale collection of pictures in the museum. 
" ' I am sincerely yours, 

" ' Chas. S. Oqden.' 



The First Portrait of Washington. 9 

" The portrait of ' Billy Lee' in its cotinectiou also has 
its interest. The date of its execution is not given. ' Billy,' 
as Mr. Ogden states, was the favorite military servant of 
Washington during the Revolutionary War. He survived 
his master, and under the provisions of his will was well 
cared for at Mount Vernon. 

" In the history of American portraiture, this portrait of 
Washington, in consequence of its being tlie first authentic 
original, will always occupy a prominent position, and the 
members of the Society have good reason to congratulate 
themselves on its acquisition." 

Mr. Baker then offered the following resolution, which 
was unanimously adopted : 

" Hcsolvcd, That the thanks of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania be tendered to Mr. Charles S. Ogden, of Phil- 
adelphia, for his generous and thoughtful action in present- 
ing to the Society the portrait of Washington, painted by 
Charles Willson Peale at Mount Vernon in 1772, the origi- 
nal study for the three-quarter length representing him in 
the costume of a Virginia colonel, and also for the portrait 
of ' Billy Lee,' the favorite military servant of "Washington, 
by the same artist." 



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